This is a unique challenge blog where we are inspired by and focus on the Vintage; shabby; mixed-media; art journaling; industrial, timeworn and steampunk genres and encompass the talent, flair, expertise and ideas of many artists that we are inspired by. We welcome all types of projects - cards, journaling, assemblage, layouts, albums, atcs, altered art in fact whatever you want to share (as long as it is in good taste).

Friday, 6 March 2015

Happy 1st Birthday AVJ

There’s lots to tell you today
about the changes to our schedule and what surprises there are for the birthday
winners (you will definitely want to see what they are - so read on please..), but first I want to extend a very warm welcome to our newest Creative
Guide Shari Trumbull. Shari lives at Ain’t That ArtsyFartsy and you can find her photo and read more about her in 'Meet the Creative Guides' in the sidebar. I am sure you will extend a warm welcome as she joins us today with her first Creative Guide challenge sample. You will also notice that Trace is on the line up and is going to stay with us and I am so pleased she has managed to find some time to join in today as well. In fact I think there is something from all of us to whet your appetite for this next challenge. So grab a coffee and a few minutes of your time to help get this party started.

Other news

From today we are changing our challenge schedule quite significantly, we are now posting one challenge a month and the winner will be chosen by random.org. We continue to have Country View Crafts as our fabulous sponsor and Susan will be donating a £20 voucheras the prize. Our challenges will go live at midnight on the first Friday of every month and finish at 6.00 pm on the Thursday night - the day before the next challenge commences (London time).

We are continuing with our 'Pinworthy Mentions' and these will be the Creative Guides' Top 3 from all the entries, as last year it will be the Host of that month's challenge who will pull all the Creative Guide suggestions together and make the final decisions. Those projects will be pinned to the appropriate Pinterest board on our Pinterest site and we will send you a Pinworthy badge for your blog.

Throughout the month Fridays will be project based with guests and we will invite the winner and the pinworthy mentions to join us with a project as guest Creative Guides. We will also continue with a special invited guest each month - so watch out for a very special Tim team member, Paula Cheney who will be with us on the 27th March.

Mondays will be education days, every Monday there will be a Destination Inspiration post brought to you by one of the Creative Guides and if you pop back here next Monday Alison is first up and she will explain what we will be doing.

Birthday Challenge and Birthday Prizes......

read on ---------

To celebrate our first birthday we are going back to the first challenge we started off with in March 2014.

ANYTHING TIM

Make 'Anything Tim' your key focus with one of those vintage, shabby, mixed media or journaling projects that has a Tim Holtz influence. What is a Tim influence? Well it could be that you use one of his techniques, some of his stamps, Idea-ology range, dies or his embossing folders. Alternatively, you might take one of his tags for inspiration or use something from one of his books or videos. Whatever it is, just have fun and post it on here with the proper links (see our Travelling Instructions in the side bar).

Here is the Creative Guide line-up for this week and each and every one of us is joining the party; I think we have produced some incredible samples for you to take inspiration from and to encourage you to join us in the challenge. We have cards and pressies and even a cake .........

Whilst I love all the wonderful "Tim" techniques, more than anything I love using Tim's products in my own style. And this is my favourite - pulling together a disparate collection of items (die cuts, flowers, metal, buttons, etc), equalising them all with gesso and then re-colouring them using Distress sprays, inks and paints. If you want to see what I used and the process then do please hop on over to Live The Dream where there are more details.

I decided to alter a little 6 x 6" file folder from my stash, playing with my new Correspondence papers and Mixed Media dies. Of course many other wonderful Tim Holtz products came out to play too. If you want to see more, all you need to do is click here

It is so hard to believe how quickly a year goes by and Happy Anniversary to AVJ! Well AVJ is not the only one with an anniversary and my pocket watch die full of Tim goodies will be gifted to my absolutely better half for our special day. Stop on over for all the details right HERE.

Serendipity has a way of making a play when I didn't even expect it! Inspired by Tim Holtz designer Richele Christensen, I created this layered burlap panel with family birthdays in mind, but here I am at the 1 Year Birthday of A Vintage Journey celebrating as a Creative Guide!! If you'd like, I've got a few details of how I put this together at my blog Ain't That Artsy Fartsy. ﻿

I just couldn't resist baking....Oops ! making a cake for our 1st Birthday Celebrations. After all a party just wouldn't be a party without a Birthday cake. I would love to have you pop over to Juliz Design Post to see all the details.

For our 'Anything Tim' challenge I decided to use the new Runway stamp set and create a wall hanging for my study. Lots of Tim inspired techniques including stamping on frosted film coated acetate. More details over at Addicted to Art today.

I used some new Tim (Cracked Pistacio Distress Ink, Handwritten Sentiments) and several old Tim (Butterfly Frenzie and Postage Stamp Frame dies, Latticework Stencil,Chit Chat Stickers to name a few) for my Birthday card celebrating A Vintage Journey's first birthday!

You can find out just how I put this together over at my blog post here.

I'm celebrating by playing in a different style than normal... I was trying to stay true to the spirit of the sentiment! And I had a lovely time playing with this glorious new stencil from the latest CHA releases to create this card and co-ordinating envelope. Come over to Words and Pictures if you'd like to see more.

Curiously, my 'hedgerow album' has been made using Sheena Douglas dies, BUT the inspiration for the album is Tim's riveted patchwork technique made with foil, alcohol inks and distress paint. I use a lot of non-Tim products in my crafting but most of what I make is inspired by Tim's techniques in one form or another. You can find the step x step for my album on my blog.

I've been in the process of reorganizing my blog and studio so thought I would share a storage chest I made to hold some of my Tim stash. This little chest has made it easy for me to find those small items that I sometimes forget about or don't want to look for. I have these items at my fingertips with this storage unit sitting on my worktable. For more details and tutorial please stop by my blog here.

Now for my Tim thing... this is a bit of a different colour scheme for me isn't it! It looks kinda complicated but in reality it's quite simple to achieve, making use of the new 'Flower Garden' stamps, 'Mixed Media' Thinlits dies and Tim's 'Distress Watercolouring' technique from the Compendium of Curiosities III. See more about it on my blog HERE

I'm celebrating Tim's new Correspondence papers today and I've made a hard back bound book which I think I might just use as a birthday book.

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AND NOW FOR THOSE VERY, SPECIAL BIRTHDAY PRIZES (just for this month only)

The Winner's Prize- drawn by random.org (and who is eligible by following the rules) will win£20.00 gift voucher for the Country View Crafts on-line shop.

Pinworthy Prizes for the Creative Guides chosen Top 3(The Creative Guides check eligibility for winning a prize against our rules)1. A special Compendium of Curiosities 3 signed by Tim Holtzdonated by Tim and Mario.

2. A special set of 'Perspective' stamps signed by Tim Holtzdonated by Tim and Mario.

3. A special Ranger apron signed by Tim Holtzdonated by Tim and Mario.

THANK YOU TIM AND MARIO for sharing our birthday celebrations with us and sending these fabulous items for three of our lovely challenge entrants to win.

(The additional products have been donated by Brenda and Chris).

Commenting Prize - drawn by Random Org from all the people who comment on this post before the challenge endsA Compendium of Curiosities 2 and additional Tim productsdonated by Anne (Redfern)

So how exciting is that ????? - so many special birthday prizes. Want to have a go at winning one? Then make your project keeping the expectations in mind - link it to the linky below and good luck

I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who is supporting and donating, including Susan, Anne and Chris and of course Tim and Mario and to all of you who enter our challenges, what an extra special birthday it is and now we are looking forward to year two of AVJ themes, guests and destination inspiration posts.

A Happy Birthday or Happy Anniversary if you are celebrating something special today and that includes our fabulous CG Terry who has a wedding anniversary today.

80 comments:

Fabulous inspiration from the team for this first birthday celebration! I feel so proud to be part of this amazing team - welcome to Shari and welcome back to Trace. Happy 1st Birthday to the whole team! Hugs, Anne xx

Congratulations to all at AVJ on reaching this first birthday so successfully. This is always a wonderful creative space to visit, linger and learn. Welcome to Shari and I'm so glad that Trace is still part of team. As usual the inspiration projects are superb! You sure have pulled out all the stops. Gosh those prizes are fabulicious, thank-you for your generosity. Well time for this gal to turn out the light, I'll probably dream about winning one of those fabby prizes - a girl can dream can't she! Nicola x

Happy Birthday A Vintage Journey!! I'm sooo happy to be here as a new Creative Guide celebrating this milestone with so many wonderful and talented women!! I'm having a good time!! I swear, I won't dance on any tables wearing a lampshade on my head!! :) :) Congrats AVJ!! Cheers to making this 2nd year at AVJ as good, if not better, than the first year!! XOXO-Shari

WOW!!! First of all Happy First Birthday and second of all THANK YOU for putting together such amazing prizes!!! Great inspiration from DT!!! I need to whip up something really good for this occasion!!!

Such inspiration from all of the DT - wow!! Love the way AVJ celebrates birthdays! Looking forward to another successful year for AVJ - I have learned so much from ALL of you, including folks who enter the challenges. And have found many talented artists through these postings - so thank you for continuing the challenges!! I look forward to participating this year - xx Lynn

Happy birthday AVJ! What wonderful inspirations from the design team and what fabulour gifts for your birthday celebration. So glad I found you and your wonderful blog, I've learned so much in the short time that I've been following along. Can't wait to see what this new year brings!

A Very Happy Birthday AVJ. It is a great journey so far with you talented ladies. You are vary generous to share your knowledge. The techniques, tips and tricks were just awesome. I am not regular participant in challenges here, but love to visit DT's posts as well as other beautiful entries. Thanks so much for creating something...which is only 'Tim' ....he is huge inspiration for all of us.

Happy birthday!!!!! Wonderful news ! With a challenge for each month, I hope to be able to participate more often !!! You are fabulous, thank you for your generosity! Thanks also to Tim and MArio !!!!!!! Your creations are amazing and insipiring, I will visit your blog one by one! BArbarayaya

OMG...I am blown away by the creativity on this blog today, Happy Birthday by the way, and good luck for another successful Year.I think going monthly is good, it gives one more time to construct something that has had some thought put into it. You are giving away wonderful prizes which is also a great incentive; it is always a pleasure to visit this blog, you have a wonderful team.Smiles:)Sue

Congratulations on your 1st birthday!! That means a whole year has gone by and I've not managed to join in with a single challenge.. oh dear! I have faithfully read every one, and still never managed to find/make time to join in... maybe now I have a whole month to do so, things will be different... You have some fabulous prizes on offer, but I already have Compendium 2, so please exclude me from the generous random draw for it with this comment.

Happy Birthday, AVJ!!! I remember one year ago when I was waiting for the launch of this fabulous journey, having seen the announcement some days before... And anything Tim was the first challenge I entered in my blogland life !I had the luck to win a challenge later, so AVJ means a lot to me! I ´m going to join, for sure! Thanks a lot for your inspiration, ladies!

OMgoodness what fantastic 1st birthday celebrations. I have so enjoyed my Vintage journey this year, you are my favourite challenge blog. The new changes really suit me, one a month means I will definately play in each one. What fab prizes....o wow I would SO love to come out of the hat for one of them. Fingers crossed. How generous of Tim and Mario. Thank you Brenda and your talented team for all you hard work and inspiration, happy birthday AVJ huge crafty hugs xx

Amazing inspiration from everyone on the team, this has been such an exciting year and I so look forward to the year ahead!! A big thank you to everyone, all of our players, for taking the time to be part of this journey time after time, to my team mates for all of their inspiration, to Brenda and Chris who do endless work behind the scenes, and last but not least to Tim and Mario, not only for their gifts, but for the endless inspiration. Without them this journey would never have begun. Happy Birthday AVJ!!!

Happy Birthday to AVJ Happy Birthday to you.......Fabulous first year how time flies I have loved every minute of this creative journey even if I haven't had chance to play every challenge, so extremely happy we now have a month yeh. Thank you all for such incredible samples and tuitions and for the amazing prizes for your 1st Birthday celebrations. Here's to another year...HugsMaggieH xx

Happy Birthday to everyone x a whole year!!!!! Where has it gone ? Wonderful celebratory projects by my Creative Guide sisters. I am so honoured to be here amongst you as a Creative Guide. Welcome to The very talented Shari Trumbull and its great to see Trace here too.Have fun with the challenge and catch up soonAnnie x

What a wonderful year of projects and tuition I have learned so much from you all - A very Happy Birthday to all the wonderful design Team - such generous prizes too many thanks to Tim, Mario, Brenda, Chris and all who have donated along with, of course, Country View Crafts who have supported the challenge all year

Amazing projects again this week can't wait to visit you all and get the how too!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AVJ!!!!! I have soooo enjoyed the last year of all your creative hard work. It's a great inspirational blog to stop by and enjoy while sipping my morning coffee...like right now. I love being a Guest Guide too! I look forward to the new changes giving me a whole month to join the fun. Sometimes even 2 weeks is hard to make the deadline. Sending you all Creative Hugs!

Happy Birthday AVJ!!! I have had so much inspiration from all the DT members during the past year! This blog is awesome! For this beautiful occassion all the DT members did a great job! The creations are fabulous! Thank you so much to you all! Hugs:)Branka xxx

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY 1st year birthday/anniversary. I have learned so so so so much from all of you. NOT ENOUGH yet so keep it coming... Hungry for all you do in year TWO!!! All the DT projects were just wonderful... I'm awed. And thank you so much for all the prizes - wow. I would be so thrilled to have my number picked!!! Also hope I can create something worthy of your teachings!! j.

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY 1st year birthday/anniversary. I have learned so so so so much from all of you. NOT ENOUGH yet so keep it coming... Hungry for all you do in year TWO!!! All the DT projects were just wonderful... I'm awed. And thank you so much for all the prizes - wow. I would be so thrilled to have my number picked!!! Also hope I can create something worthy of your teachings!! j.

Happy Birthday, A Vintage Journey! It has been a pleasure to participate in the challenges since this past summer. Each one of you has been so supportive and inspirational to me. Special thanks to Chris who has put up with my nonsense much more than she should have to, and to Brenda, who has been helpful, too, with my blog. A warm welcome to Shari--what a perfect girl for the team! Thank you for this opportunity to win some goodies--these prizes are very generous! Thank you for all you do!

Happy Birthday, A Vintage Journey! It has been a pleasure to participate in the challenges since this past summer. Each one of you has been so supportive and inspirational to me. Special thanks to Chris who has put up with my nonsense much more than she should have to, and to Brenda, who has been helpful, too, with my blog. A warm welcome to Shari--what a perfect girl for the team! Thank you for this opportunity to win some goodies--these prizes are very generous! Thank you for all you do!

Happy Birthday AVJ! I have had such inspiration from your guides and lots of fun creating for the challenges. Thanks for all your support with blogging and when I got things wrong sorting me out! I am happy that the challenges are monthly now, I have a few unfinished pieces I didn't submit because I ran out of time. Have a great time ladies, hugs Jan a Hill x

Happy Happy Birthday and Congrats! All of he yummy goodness on this post from the DT makes my head spin! And the prizes galore! Oh my, oh my!!!! What a wonderful birthday party bash! Hugz and Happy Crafting!!! ~Niki

I just love this blog and this is the second time I have entered in a row, so glad i have found somewhere that focuses on Tim and Mario, adore all the teams work and will be off to have a closer look at them all.

It is so great to see the diversity on projects here and that for a year now. Congrats on making such a super blog with a divers and so creative team! I always get inspired here! Inky greetings, Gerrina

Happy birthday to AVJ and a special co grays to ALL of the Creative Crew for a year's worth of EXCELLENT projects and shared creativity. This truly is such a talented team. You make Tim's products really shine through all of your individual styles and artistry.

Happy 1st Birthday AVJ and congratulations on a fabulous first year. I am relatively new to the group, but I am so pleased to have found such a happy haven of Tim Holtz appreciators. I look forward to your creative inspiration for another year. Best wishes. :)

Wishing all you lovely talented ladies a very Happy birthday! You have provided endless inspiration over the year with your various styles of creativity . Really looking forward to being a more active visitor in the future , maybe even daring myself to join in one or two of the challenges along the way . x

Happy 1st Birthday!!! :-D I wish you many many more! I am new here (came from a friend) and I can't stop looking at projects here on blog. STUNNING, GORGEOUS, BEAUTIFUL... Candy for my eye and heart! :-D

Happy Birthday, AVJ! What amazing inspiration and also details to inspire our creativity. I think having a month will give many of us a better chance to follow this inspiration. Thank you also for deciding to have random winners - I am sure that selecting a winner has been a very difficult task!

Congratulations and congratulations for all the work you do !!! ... is magnificent and especially the possibility to participate with you !!!. Thank you very much and lasts long, long time ... A big hug from Spain! :))

Happy Birthday and Congrats to you all for a year well done! What a wonderful group of creative people! Thanks for sharing your ideas, talents and enthusiasm! Looking forward to another year of inspiration!